A Social History of England explores the full breadth of English life and society, offering indispensable introductions for students and an invaluable resource for specialists. Bringing together an international and interdisciplinary team of leading scholars, each book in the series reflects on the major trends which have shaped English society and identifies the key themes which encapsulate Renaissance means re-birth. From about th century. The world was reborn in many ways. The Renaissance began in Italy, especially in art and architectur WhatsApp In the 14th century, a very powerful movement called the Renaissance began in Florence, Italy. Between the early 16th and 17th century, this movement reached England where it gave birth to a large cultural and artistic era known as the English Renaissance. No field was left untouched by the revolution caused by this influential era
English society - Wikipedia
English society comprises the group behaviour of the English peopleand of collective social interactions, organisation and political attitudes in England.
The social history of England evidences many social and societal changes over the history of Englandfrom Anglo-Saxon England to the contemporary forces upon the Western world. These major social changes have both internally and in its relationship with other nations. The themes of social history include demographic historylabour history and the working classwomen's historysocial history of england renaissance essaythe history of education in Englandrural and agricultural historyurban history and industrialisation.
The distant past does not offer much information on the structures of society, however, major changes in human behaviour make it likely that society must have changed dramatically. In common with much of Europethe switch from the hunter-gatherer lifestyle to farming around BC must have heralded an enormous shift in all aspects of human life.
Nobody knows what changes may have occurred, and recent evidence of permanent buildings and habitation from 3, years ago means that these may still have been gradual shifts. One of the most obvious symbols of change in prehistoric society is Stonehenge.
The building of such stone circlesburial mounds and monuments throughout the British Isles seems to have required a division of labour. Builders would have needed to dedicate themselves to the task of monument construction to acquire the required skills.
Not having time to hunt and farm would make them rely on others to such an extent that specialised farmers would emerge who provided not only for themselves but also for the monument builders. There are many changes in culture seen in social history of england renaissance essay and later times such as the Beaker peoplethe Celtsthe Romans and the Anglo-Saxons.
The Roman invasion of Britain in 54 BC probably did not alter society social history of england renaissance essay at first, as it was simply a replacement of the ruling class, but numerous, at first minor, ideas would later gain footholds. Certainly, it would not have affected Ireland in the slightest.
It is from the Romans, and particularly Tacitusthat we get the earliest detailed written records of Britain and its tribal society. We get fascinating glimpses of society in Britain before the Romans, although only briefly and disparagingly mentioned, particularly the importance of powerful women such as Cartimandua and Boudica. City dwelling was not new to pre-Roman Britain, but it was a lifestyle that the Romans preferred even though available to only a select few Romanised Britons.
Romanisation was an important part of the Roman conquest strategy, and British rulers who willingly adopted Roman ways were rewarded as client kings; a good example of social history of england renaissance essay is Togidubnus and his ultramodern Fishbourne Roman Palace.
To subdue and control the country, the Romans built a major road network which not only was an important civil engineering project but formed the basis of the country's communication links. The Romans brought many other innovations and ideas such as writing and plumbing, but how many of these things were the preserve of the rich or were even lost and re-appropriated at a later date is uncertain.
The collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century is thought to have brought general strife and anarchy to society, but the actual events are not well understood. Archaeology certainly shows a reduction in the expensive goods found before and the Roman cities began to be abandoned, but much of British society had never had such things. Certainly, numerous peoples took advantage of the absence of Roman power, but how they affected Social history of england renaissance essay society is far from clear.
The hegemony of Roman rule gave way to a selection of splintered, often competing, societies, including later the heptarchy, social history of england renaissance essay. Rather than think social history of england renaissance essay themselves as a small part of a larger Roman empire, they reverted to smaller tribal allegiances.
The Anglo-Saxons ' arrival is the most hotly disputed of events, and the extent to which they killed, displaced, or integrated with the existing society is still questioned. These new arrivals had not been conquered by the Romans but their society was perhaps similar to that of Britain.
The main difference was their pagan religion, which the surviving northern areas of non-Saxon rule sought to convert to Christianity.
During the 7th century these northern areas, particularly Northumbriabecame important sites of learning, with monasteries acting like early schools and intellectuals such as Bede being influential. In the 9th century Alfred the Great worked to promote a literate, educated people and did much to promote the English languageeven writing books himself.
Alfred and his successors unified and brought stability to most of the south of Britain that would eventually become England. After the Social history of england renaissance essay conquest of England insociety seemed fixed and unchanging for several centuries, but gradual and significant changes were still taking place, the exact nature of which would not be appreciated until much later.
The Norman lords spoke Norman Frenchand in order to work for them or gain advantage, the English had to use the Anglo-Norman language that developed in England. This became a necessary administrative and literary language see Anglo-Norman literaturebut despite this the English language was not supplanted, and after gaining much in grammar and vocabulary began in turn to replace the language of the rulers. At the same time the population of England more than doubled between Domesday and the end of the 13th social history of england renaissance essay, and this growth was not checked by the almost continual foreign warfare, crusades and occasional civil anarchy.
Feudalismalthough historians debate the term, is often used to describe medieval society. The vast majority of the people were peasants who would work on the vassal's fiefs.
This or a similar system was the basis of later medieval society. It probably existed in some form in England before the Norman conquestbut the Normans did much to institute it, either replacing existing lords or by becoming 'overlords' above now-demoted lords. A wealth of information on these social structures can be drawn from the best early surveys of its type, the Domesday Book.
The crusades are one measure of the ever-increasing power of the church in medieval life, with some estimates suggesting that as many as 40, clergy were ordained during the 13th century. This is also shown by the spate of cathedral building, social history of england renaissance essay, common throughout Europe, at the time. These great buildings would often take several generations to complete, spawning whole communities of artisans and craftsmen and offering them jobs for life.
Its monasteries owned large tracts of land farmed by peasants. The two centuries from to when the plague hit were prosperous. The population grew rapidly, from about 2 million to about 5 million. England remained a mainly rural society, and many agricultural changes, such as crop rotationsocial history of england renaissance essay the countryside profitable.
Most people lived by farming, although there were wide variations in patterns of land ownership and the status of peasants. To meet the needs of the growing population more land had to be cultivated. Waste land was exploited and major incursions were made into forests, fen and marsh lands. Treatises appeared on the best practices, but the growth of per-acre productivity was small. On good land one acre might produce 17 bushels of wheat compared to 73 bushels an acre in the sor 26 of barley or 22 of oats.
After prosperity was more tenuous owing to a combination of over-population, land shortages and depleted soils. The loss of life in the Great Famine of —17 shook the English economy severely and population growth ceased. The agricultural sector shrank, social history of england renaissance essay, with higher wages, lower prices and shrinking profits leading to the final demise of the old demesne system and the advent of the modern farming system of cash rents for lands.
The increase in population led not only to denser rural areas but also to more and larger towns. Many new towns appeared but most were small. Major cities such as Lincoln, social history of england renaissance essay, Norwich and Thelford had — population, while London grew from 10, to nearly 40, population while York approached 10, The 13th century experienced a mini-industrial revolution, with the increased use of wind power and changes in the wool industry.
Wool, always important to the British economy, was traditionally exported to be processed, but it was now frequently processed in England, creating a variety of extra jobs. The export of cloth continued to increase from the 14th century onwards, and after the closing of the port of Calais which consumed much of the raw wool by the Spanish in the late 16th century, cloth became the primary type of wool exported.
After many years of growth and gradual change, there was one seismic event which changed British society dramatically. The Black Death in the middle of the 14th century almost halved the population. Whole villages were wiped out by the plague, but rather than destroying society it managed to reinvigorate it. Before the plague there was a large, probably excessive, workforce with not enough productive work available. Overpopulation meant that before the Black Death too many people were competing for scarce resources.
Afterwards, the drop in population meant that labourers were in short supply and were paid better. Peasants who had once been confined to a landowner's estate now had an incentive to travel to areas without workers. This social mobility was combined with the fact that peasants could charge much more for their services, and this began a switch from indentured labourer to wage earner which signalled the decline of the feudal system. The peasants' new-found freedoms were very worrying to the authorities, social history of england renaissance essay, who passed laws specifying the maximum that a peasant should be paid, but this had little effect on wages.
The first of several sumptuary laws were also made, dictating exactly how people at every level of society should dress and what they could own, in an effort to enforce social distinctions. These new laws, plus a newly levied poll tax which had been calculated on pre-plague population figures, led directly to the Peasants' Revolt. Although quickly put down, the revolt was an early popular reform movement—a precursor to later, more successful uprisings.
Geofrey Chaucer 's Canterbury Tales give an illuminating picture of many of the different people who made up medieval society, although these portraits are limited mainly to the middle classes. The Wife of Bath is one particularly vibrant character within the Tales and a few years later a real-world equivalent, Margery Kempeshowed in her autobiography that women had an important part in medieval society. In general terms, the Tudor dynasty period was seen as relatively stable compared to the previous years of almost constant warfare.
However, the Reformation caused internal and external social conflict, social history of england renaissance essay, with a considerable impact on social structure and personality. Before they were broken up and sold by Henry VIII, monasteries had been one of the important parts of social welfare, giving alms and looking after the destitute, and their disappearance meant that the state would have to adopt this role, which culminated in the Poor law of The monasteries were decrepit—they no longer were the major educational or economic establishments in the country; after they had gone, many new grammar schools were founded and these, along with the earlier introduction of the printing press, helped to improve literacy.
The agricultural reforms which had begun in the 13th century accelerated in the 16th century, with enclosure altering the open field system and denying many of the poor access to land. Large areas of land which had once been commonand whose usage had been shared between many people, were now being enclosed by the wealthy mainly for extremely profitable sheep farming.
England's food supply was plentiful throughout most of the era; there were no famines. Bad harvests caused distress, but they were usually localized. The most widespread came in —57 and — The poor consumed a diet largely of bread, cheese, milk, and beer, with small portions of meat, fish and vegetables, and occasionally some fruit. Potatoes were just arriving at the end of the period, and became increasingly important.
The typical poor farmer sold his best products on the market, keeping the cheap food for the family. Stale bread could be used to make bread puddings, and bread crumbs served to thicken soups, stews, and sauces.
The holiday goose was a special treat. Many rural folk and some townspeople tended a small garden which produced vegetables such as asparagus, cucumbers, spinach, lettuce, beans, cabbage, carrots, leeks, and peas, as well as medicinal and flavoring herbs.
Some raised their own apricots, grapes, berries, apples, pears, social history of england renaissance essay, currants, and cherries. Families without a garden could trade with their neighbours to obtain vegetables and fruits at low cost. The people discovered new foods such as the potato and tomato imported from the Americasand developed new tastes during the era.
The more prosperous enjoyed a wide variety of food and drink, including exotic new drinks such as tea, coffee, social history of england renaissance essay, and chocolate.
French and Italian chefs appeared in the country houses and palaces bringing new standards of food preparation and taste. For example, the English developed a taste for acidic foods—such as oranges for the upper class—and started to use vinegar heavily. The gentry paid increasing attention to their gardens, with new fruits, vegetables and herbs; pasta, pastries, and dried mustard balls first appeared on the table.
The apricot was a special treat at fancy banquets. Roast beef remained a staple for those who could afford it.
The Renaissance Social history of England
, time: 8:53Essay about The Influence of The English Renaissance | Bartleby
SOCIAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND (For those who joined in July onwards) Time: Three hours Maximum: 75 marks. PART A - (10 x 1 = 10 marks) Answer ALL questions. Choose the correct answer. 1. Name the first known English poet Renaissance means re-birth. From about th century. The world was reborn in many ways. The Renaissance began in Italy, especially in art and architectur The renaissance was a cultural and artistic movement dating from the early 16th to the early 17th centuries. It is associated with the pan-European renaissance that many cultural historians believe originated in Tuscany. The English Renaissance started with King Henry I, but did not reach its full potential until the reign of Queen Elizabeth I
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